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File swapping is legal – LA Judge

Two file-sharing companies, Streamcast Networks (who run Kazaa) and Grokster, have won a landmark victory in the ongoing fight over the legality of their products. Judge Stephen Wilson today ruled that file-sharing networks are not responsible for their users actions. The majority of a lawsuit filed by a combination of the MPAA and RIAA was dismissed by the judge. Some claims, targeted at older versions of the software, will be further argued in the court.

"Defendants distribute and support software, the users of which can and do choose to employ it for both lawful and unlawful ends," Wilson wrote in his opinion, released Friday. "Grokster and Streamcast are not significantly different from companies that sell home video recorders or copy machines, both of which can be and are used to infringe copyrights."

At last we see some sense being applied in court judgements of this kind. When Napster was told to make sure that it was impossible to trade copyrighted material illegally on their network or shut down, we all feared that consumer fair use rights would go out the window. I have to applaud Judge Wilson for making the distinction between Napster and modern file-sharing systems. Napster was created for the purpose of trading illegally, and marketed as such, whereas Kazaa et al can be used for sharing any sort of file. To shut them down would destroy the valid uses of their technology, and punish users who may have done nothing wrong.

"This is far from over," said Fred von Lohmann, an Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney who has represented Streamcast in the case. "This is not the end, but it sends a very strong message to the technology community that the court understands the risk to innovation."

Time and again I find myself cheering the work of the EFF. They are an organisation of volunteers fighting for our rights to use our computers in any way we see fit. The RIAA and MPAA will certainly appeal the decision.